Wednesday, February 1st. I headed to work with a thought in the back of my mind - Marathon registration opens today. Marathon registration for runners is comparable to opening day to baseball fans. Excitement is in the air. The possibilities are endless. It will be a long season.
I didn't sign up first thing in the morning. Or at lunch. Or when I got home that evening. I still wasn't sure. Would I do Chicago again?
That evening, I had an email from the Marathon. A record 13,000 people had signed up on the first day. A first day registration record.
I thought long and hard about what I was going to do. I had looked in to running an international race or of running a few destination U.S. half marathons. A final decision had yet to be made.
So I approached it from another angle. If I had any desire to do Chicago again, I was going to need to make a decision and fast. Was I OK with not running Chicago in 2012? What if that meant no marathon in 2012? Or if I meant a marathon in another city, where? Would another city's marathon compare to Chicago?
Thursday, February 2nd, I received another email from the Marathon. Registration had reached 30,000. I decided I didn't want to take a chance of missing the opportunity, and I signed up. As I signed up, I texted Brian. He said he'd been thinking of the same thing. If I was going to sign up, then he would sign up too.
Brian and I, now accomplices in registration, focused our attention on to stage 2: Talking others in to registering for the marathon. Brian worked over a friend on facebook. I worked on a co-worker. By the end of the day Friday, we were both successful. Training is more fun when you're sharing the experience with someone. Especially a first timer.
I can't wait.
This morning a third email came from the marathon. The race is expected to sell out today.
Just five days after opening. Unbelievable and somehow, quite exciting.
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